Film Premiere Elicits Knowing Laughs From Canadians

March 13, 1993|By LUCY CHABOT, Staff Writer

HOLLYWOOD -- The theater is virtually silent as the movie begins, showing men pushing cars through mounds of snow in the dark.

Audience members watching the general premiere of La Florida at Hollywood Cinema on Friday night begin to giggle when they see fellow Quebecers waiting for a bus, ice clinging to their eyebrows and lashes.

The characterizations -- and the laughs -- have just begun.

The movie, produced by Pierre Sarrazin Productions in Toronto and filmed on Hollywood`s beach, follows the adventures of a Canadian family as they move south to operate a motel in a fictional town called Hollywood Beach.

Frequent are the images of Canadians driving big Cadillacs, cigar-chomping men in flowered shirts and well-endowed women with sharp sunburns.

``The film is, and it was intended to be, Quebecois poking fun at themselves,`` said Barry Sacharow, marketing director for Le Soliel de la Floride, a South-Florida-based French-language newspaper, who helped directors with locations. ``It is in no way an accurate portrayal of life on Hollywood beach.``

Some moviegoers disagreed.

``It was great fun,`` said Rita Beauvais, a Quebecer who was an extra in the film shot last year. ``It was accurate, yes, but funny too.``

``I found it funny,`` said Pierre-Paul Plante, a Quebecer who visits Hollywood each year for two months. ``It`s accurate, but they put a little bit more in there, you know?``

A greedy American developer is in the movie, as is a greedy-turned- compassionat e American businessman and a greedy Canadian businessman. The movie thrives on its funny, touching tale of a man and his family searching for the American Dream in the Florida sunshine.

``The camera does make fun of unattractive bodies,`` said Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti, who saw the film on Thursday and said she laughed even though she understood little of the dialogue. ``We laughed, but in the back of my mind, I had an extra chuckle knowing what we just went through.

``We all need to be more tolerant, and comedy is the best way to do that.``

The film was produced for French audiences and is about 70 percent French. An English-dubbed version of the movie is scheduled to premiere in November at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, Sacharow said.

Nicki Grossman, executive director of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said she hopes the film is popular with Canadians because it shows appealing views of Hollywood and life in the city.

The movie plays the part of temptress well. In one scene, the hotel`s hostess, Ginette, walks into the courtyard to tell her guests basking around the pool that the weather in Quebec is 25 below with 4 feet of snow.

Above their cheers, she concludes, ``And it`s 82 on the beach.``

The film shows Mondays through Sundays at 5:45, 8 and 10:15 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees are at 1:15 and 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $7, with matinees and early shows at $6.